


Just Bro Stuff

by appending_fic



Category: Buddy Thunderstruck (Cartoon)
Genre: Buddy and Darnell are Bros, Consensual Underage Sex, Feelings, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, High School, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, Multi, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 05:17:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14465859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appending_fic/pseuds/appending_fic
Summary: "Come on, Buddy, we're bros. You can't let anyone tell you how we should treat each other."





	1. They Cuddle

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by some art by Jer-artspat on tumblr, and the caption of "Bros Being Dudes Who Date Dudes (each other)"
> 
> Not quite as fluffy as I'd intended, but this is what I wrote, so *shrugs*.

Darnell wasn't sure what was happening.

This was only partially true. They were at a party, ostensibly to help Darnell recover from the irritation of his most recent, final fight with Margaret. It was in the middle of the woods, because it was the best way to get away from adult supervision. Beer and dubious punch were flowing freely, because there was no adult supervision. Buddy had had ten cups of punch, for at least one of a number of reasons (not knowing there was alcohol, wanting to get wasted, a misconception that _he_ was supposed to be drowning his sorrows in solidarity; Darnell did not have energy to consider all possibilities).

After that, his understanding of the situation started to falter (helped in no small part by the five cups of punch _he'd_ had). Buddy and he had wandered off on their own with a cup of punch each; Buddy may have seemed like a social butterfly, but he seemed to prefer spending time with Darnell than attending even the hottest party. So they were settled up against a fallen tree, Buddy doing most of the talking, because he liked to ramble. His arm was around Darnell's waist, head listing against Darnell's shoulder as his speech slurred and slowed.

Buddy shifted, turning toward Darnell until he settled, breathing evenly, with his face pressed into Darnell's stomach, arm tight around Darnell's waist. Not uncomfortable, exactly, but more intimate than Darnell was used to, even from his bro.

His attempt to wake Buddy failed, and trying to move Buddy off of his lap just made the dog tighten his grip and shift his muzzle dangerously close to Darnell's crotch. Thus, to avoid further awkwardness, Darnell left this sleeping dog lie, leaning further back against the tree. He didn't mean to doze, but he was buzzed, tired, and didn't have Buddy's chattering to keep him occupied. He awoke, some time later, wrapped in long, spindly arms, leaning against a chest that, while warm, was hardly comfortable.

"Whtst?"

"Hey, Darnell."

"Whtmi," Darnel pushed himself more or less upright for some sense of balance; there were distant shouts and laughs suggesting the party was still going on, and it was still dark, but beyond that, there was no sign how much time had passed.

"It is definitely past your curfew," Buddy said.

Darnell waved his hand vaguely. "What're we doing?"

"Hm?"

Darnell looked pointedly at Buddy's arms, loose but still around his chest.

"Oh; we're bros, right?"

"...Yeah?"

"So don't worry about it. Come on, I bet if we get back to my place, Auntie Uncle can smooth things over with your parents and we can sleep in a real bed tonight."

And Darnell was just tired and drunk enough that he didn't follow the thread of that response to whatever conclusion was there. When he woke the next morning in the upper bunk of Buddy's bunk beds, Buddy snoring five feet below him, Darnell wrote the whole experience off as just one of those things that happened when you and your bro got drunk at a high school party.


	2. They Love Each Other

Darnell wasn't paying close attention, so when Buddy, who was hanging around his neck, waved at Xiao, he slapped Darnell in the nose.

"Ow!" Darnell put a hand over the offending area, pleased to discover it wasn't even bleeding, much less broken. "What the heck?"

"Sorry," Buddy said, sounding legitimately remorseful. "Hey, Xiao!"

Buddy's girlfriend, fur sleek either because she'd gotten it styled recently or because swim practice had just ended, sat delicately on the bench at the edge of the football field. "Buddy. Darnell."

"Hi, Xiao. How was...swim practice?"

"I was at the salon," Xiao replied icily, because Darnell had consistently been on her bad side since they'd met.

"Right."

Silence settled between the three of them, until Xiao cleared her throat pointedly. When this failed to yield results, she swung her head around to meet Buddy's eyes. "Were you going to stay draped all over Darnell, or were you going to give me a kiss hello?"

"Oh!" Buddy slipped away and kissed Xiao on her cheek. "I thought you would not appreciate me messing up your fur like I was Darnell's." Xiao turned her narrow gaze at Darnell, and he tried to smooth down his fur a little.

"How considerate. I just wanted to make sure you remembered our date tonight."

"Of course! Seven-thirty, on the dot."

"And by that, you mean you will arrive at my house driving your own vehicle, with no other passengers, dressed appropriately and not covered in motor oil?"

"Um." Buddy glanced at Darnell, eyebrows raised, and Darnell suppressed a sigh.

"Don't worry, I won't let him near anything that'll ruin his outfit."

"Well, as long as one of you is on the ball. I'll see you later, Buddy."

Buddy watched after her until she stepped around the building, and then fell back into Darnell's lap. "So, what are _we_ doing?"

"I _was_ going to start the rebuild on the engine I got for your truck, but-"

"Ooh! Let's!"

"Were you _listening_ to Xiao? If we work on the truck, you're going to end up drenched in axle grease or windshield wiper fluid or something else no reasonable person would store in a garage because your aunt is _insane_ , and then Xiao will murder me."

"Noooo, I would not let that happen." Buddy rolled over to squeeze Darnell's waist almost painfully tight. "I would tell her she could try to kill you or date me, and not both, and if she decided to try to kill you, wham! Pow!" He pressed his face into Darnell's thigh, tightening his grip on Darnell's waist. "It would be an epic fight, but my love for you would prevail and she would both be foiled _and_ without a boyfriend."

"Well, if you say so." Darnell wasn't certain if he was supposed to comment on that particular turn of phrase; he was pretty sure the bro code at least demanded a reflexive 'no homo'. "We could play video games instead, maybe avoid a nasty breakup and deathmatch."

"Come onnnnn, if we work on the Rabble Rouser now, we will have a fully functional racing truck sooner rather than later."

And as much as Darnell tried to avoid unnecessary friction between him and Xiao, he didn't want to keep arguing against doing something Buddy and he both enjoyed. "Well, as long as you're certain your love for me is sufficient to protect me from an enraged swim team captain."

"Absolutely!" Buddy agreed, ignoring another chance for a 'no-homo' or some other way to clarify that he didn't love Darnell _that_ way. "Come on, let's go." He rolled off the bench, out of Darnell's lap, and snagged Darnell's arm in one smooth motion. "I wanna see how many horses this engine is going to have."


	3. They Comfort Each Other

"Darnell! Your friend Buddy is here!"

Darnell frowned at the call. Buddy was supposed to be an hour into a date right now.

"Darnell?" His mother's voice had the edge it got when she had to spend more than fifteen seconds in Buddy's presence, so Darnell closed his physics homework.

"I'll be down in a second!"

It was vaguely worrying, Darnell thought as he headed downstairs. Buddy had been looking forward to this date; he'd confessed being more invested in his relationship with Josh than he had been with many previous ones.

Darnell's anxiety worsened when he stepped into the front hall to find Buddy staring at the hat rack tearfully.

"Uh...Buddy?"

"Darnell!" Buddy launched himself at Darnell, latched his arms around Darnell's middle, and sort of dragged Darnell down so he could press his face into Darnell's stomach, which was some sort of reflex when he needed comforting, Darnell had found. His shirt was damp, either from tears or Buddy's nose.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," Buddy growled. "I am fine."

"Uh huh." Darnell reached down and scratched between Buddy's ears. Buddy didn't shove him away, but neither did he let out the pleased rumble he normally did when Darnell did this. "Because, correct me if I'm wrong, but you had a date-"

"I decided Josh no longer deserves the pleasure of my company." Buddy sounded sincere, but also a little hesitant.

"Do you mind telling me why?"

Buddy mumbled into Darnell's stomach, which was not particularly enlightening, but may have been a sign Buddy didn't want to talk about it in the middle of Darnell's front hall.

"Do you want to go up to my room?"

"Do you have jerky up there?"

"I can. How about you head up and I'll meet you-" The emphatic shake of Buddy's head and tightening of his grip around Darnell's middle made Buddy's feelings on that subject clear. "Do you want to come with me into the kitchen, or just head up without jerky?"

Buddy was quiet for long enough that Darnell considered repeating himself, before Buddy mumbled into his stomach. "What kind?"

"I don't know - peppered, I think?"

Buddy stood up, pulling Darnell up with him, and headed for the kitchen, one hand latched around Darnell's. Buddy began rooting through cabinets, silent, handing Darnell a bag of pepper jerky, peanut-butter pretzels, and three bags of cookies. Once in Darnell's room, Buddy collapsed into Darnell's bed and curled around one of the pillows.

"Buddy? I'm gonna need you to talk to me-"

"Josh decided that because I have a boyfriend on the side _he_ gets a boyfriend on the side."

"When did you start seeing someone else?"

Buddy let out an inarticulate noise and waved in the direction of Darnell's desk. Or possibly Darnell himself; he probably couldn't see through the pillow he'd smushed his face into.

"...Oh." Even Xiao, who'd hated Darnell, hadn't insinuated, much less come out and say that. Darnell sat on the bed next to Buddy and began scratching his ears; Buddy curled up tighter but shifted closer. "Come on, Buddy, we're bros. You can't let anyone tell you how we should treat each other."

"That's why I dumped him," Buddy grumbled. But he still looked sort of miserable, curled up on Darnell's bed.

"Do you want a hug?" Buddy nodded, so Darnell lay down next to him and pulled Buddy in to his chest. Whether Buddy had done the dumping or not, the ordeal had clearly exhausted him, so he fell asleep that way, and, fearful of moving and waking Buddy, Darnell did, too. Buddy seemed less despondent the next morning, so Darnell didn't bring it up, just let Buddy steal his pancakes without complaint.


	4. They Stick By Each Other

"So what colleges are you thinking about?"

Darnell bit back a groan. People - his parents, teachers, guidance counselor - had been asking him that question a lot, part of the reason he'd sought refuge at Rick's house. But apparently, making out left Rick in the mood to talk about his future.

"I don't know. Haven't been thinking about it, really." Darnell reached out to scratch the top of Rick's head; his boyfriend purred, because for all his bluster in real life, he was still a cat. The vibration shook Darnell's stomach, where Rick's head was propped.

"Senior year starts in like two weeks, Darnell." Rick's voice was stern.

"Yeah?"

"And if you aren't already putting together college applications, you might not get in to any."

"Yeah, not really seeing the problem there."

"Not-" Rick rolled off Darnell, sitting up so he could glare down at Darnell. "It's _college_ , Darnell. Probably our best chance to get out of this stupid town."

And Darnell knew why Rick felt that way. He was the studious type who felt stifled in a place that didn't appreciate intelligence. He had big plans in life, and Greaspit wasn't big.

"Getting out of Greasepit isn't my highest priority."

Rick huffed. "Just because Buddy's stuck in this dead-end town doesn't mean you need to be, too."

Darnell decided not to bite down his groan, because there wasn't a nice moment for that groan to ruin, anymore. "This isn't about Buddy, Rick. I'm happy in Greasepit. I can get paid decent money for stuff I'm good at, stuff I like, here. I have friends, here."

"But you could do so much more, Darnell. Think what you could learn about engineering at MIT or Caltech or-" 

Rick grabbed Darnell's shoulder, grip loose but insistent; Darnell pushed it off. "I'm not saying I couldn't learn a lot. I'm saying I don't want what I'd get out of all that."

Rick was staring at him, green eyes wide, ears back, and it occurred to Darnell there were a lot of important things the two of them had never really talked about, including, apparently, what they wanted out of life. It was a galling omission from the conversations they'd had, especially given where their other discussions had gone (not love, they'd agreed, but potentially going there).

"We...really want different things out of life," Rick murmured.

"Yeah?"

"You're staying here, with Buddy. And I'm getting out to go somewhere like New York, Boston, LA."

"...Yeah?" Darnell's chest clenched, a sense of foreboding for what was to happen next.

"This isn't going to work out. And if it isn't - if we aren't going to have a chance to make it - what are we doing here?"

Darnell could have pointed out they had good times together. Good conversations, good experiences, good (sort-of) sex. Well, blowjobs, mostly. So, not _nothing_. But Rick, well, Rick wanted to have a shot at forever, and sticking around with someone who wasn't going to take that shot with him wasn't something he was willing to do.

To be honest, Darnell wasn't thrilled with the idea of a relationship with an expiration date.

"...I don't know."

"I think you should go home, Darnell."

"For good?"

Darnell got a curt nod in return. So he grabbed his phone and texted Buddy on his way out, the Rabble Rouser pulling into Rick's driveway five minutes later. Darnell didn't give Buddy time to get out, just jumped in and slapped the dashboard.

"Let's go."

"Darnell?"

"Let's _go_."

Buddy's ears flicked back against his head, but he obliged, peeling away to get them out onto the open road. He did not, however, let the silence remain for long. "You are upset. I can tell because of your ears. And your face."

Darnell sighed. "I think I just got dumped. Or I dumped Rick."

Buddy risked a glance over at Darnell to raise one eyebrow at him. "In my experience, it is usually pretty clear who dumped who."

"Well, it's not," Darnell retorted. "Pretty sure he thinks I'm abandoning him to want to stay here in Greasepit with you, and I feel like he's giving up because he thinks I'm a hick with no ambition."

Buddy pulled the Rabble Rouser into a skidding halt, and when Darnell looked over, Buddy's face was thunderous, brow furrowed into an anger he hadn't seen since the first time he'd been present when Buddy heard smooth jazz.

"I am going to kick Rick's ass so hard his grandkids feel it."

"What, no!" Darnell grabbed at the wheel, earning a narrow glare from Buddy. "Come on, Buddy. He didn't actually say that, it's just..." He shrugged. "This is a hick town and I don't want to leave. I sort of _am_ a hick with no ambition."

"You have plenty of ambition! Just because everything you want to do you can do right here in town does not make you a - a hick. And even if you are, you are a pretty cool guy, anyway. Someone who lets you forget that isn't worth your time."

Darnell huffed, smiling despite himself. "Come on, let's go get some pizza. We can commiserate about our miserable love lives and plan our ambitionless futures."


	5. They Cross A Line

Darnell wasn't sure what was happening.

Okay, that was a lie. There'd been a moment of disorientation when he'd woken up, but he hadn't had nearly that much to drink the night before, and in any case, certain facts were undeniable in the daylight.

Fact one: he was in a bed with Buddy. Not exceptional, but an item to note - it usually happened when one of them needed comfort or was upset.

Fact two: they were in Weaselbrat's spare room. Not unexpected; Weaselbrat would have kicked out God himself to make sure Buddy had a decent place to crash after the party.

Fact three: neither of them were wearing pants. Not unreasonable, but...notable, especially given fact four, which was:

There was pretty strong evidence Darnell had given someone a blowjob at some point in the last twelve hours, and certain pieces of evidence that made it clear he'd managed an orgasm sometime around then, too.

Which was enough to trigger his memories of the night before. Weaselbrat's graduation party had gone a little wild, which had driven Darnell and Buddy in here as a sanctuary. Talking about the future had led (somehow) to the moment when Buddy had lamented Darnell had never experienced what Buddy called one of his 'legendary blowjobs'.

Darnell wasn't certain he'd feel better if he could blame his subsequent actions on alcohol. But he'd dated exactly one of Buddy's exes, an experience he'd vowed never to repeat, but a fairly graphic description of what said legendary blowjobs entailed had stuck with Darnell.

So he'd made the mistake of asking if Buddy was offering, which Buddy _could_ have denied.

But he'd grinned at Darnell, snaggle-toothed, and said, "Well yeah, we're bros."

Which explained where Darnell's orgasm had come from (and either Buddy had improved, or had simply refused to bring his A-game to sex with Sean, because _Sean's description had not done that blowjob justice_ ). And Darnell could have handled the aftermath of that any number of ways. There were, hypothetically, ways he could have responded that might have defused the awkwardness of the morning after (that he couldn't think of any meant nothing).

But Darnell had just asked if Buddy wanted Darnell to give him a blowjob. Had insisted, when Buddy had pressed, he'd be happy to do so. Had, spurred by a competitive spirit he rarely felt around Buddy, done everything he could to match the quality of blowjob he'd received.

And now they were here, Buddy spooned up against Darnell's back, neither of them quite in the state purely platonic bros would want to be in when sharing a bed (remembering what Buddy could do with his tongue when he wasn't talking hadn't helped matters).

Behind Darnell, Buddy yawned, smacking his lips, and then paused.

"Good morning, Darnell."

"Hey, Buddy."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Y - yeah?"

"Alright. Let's get out of here; I need a shower, change of clothes, and my toothbrush." Buddy rolled away, and Darnell heard shifting as he, presumably, looked for his pants. Darnell peeked over the edge of the bed closest to him, finding Buddy's pants, and his own, as well. Darnell chucked Buddy's pants at him and worked to pull on his own without looking at or thinking about Buddy because they were apparently not talking about this.

Buddy just chattered along the same way he always did as they gave Weaselbrat fist bumps on the way out, and clambered into the Rabble Rouser.

And halfway home, just passing Sludge Puddle Creek, Darnell couldn't take it, and grabbed the wheel, sending them spinning off the road. Once the Rabble Rouser had stopped moving, Buddy turned on Darnell, glowering. "What did you do that for?"

"We've got to talk," Darnell said, "about last night."

"The party? Was not as fun as I had expected, though it had its high points."

"Do you mean when the keg exploded, or when I gave you, and I quote, 'a pretty fantastic blowjob there, Darnell'?"

"Ah - the second was definitely one of the high points, yes. I cannot say how your skills with the ladies match up, but your boyfriends have been lucky dudes." Buddy paused, considering. "The ones you had sex with, I mean. Lucki _er_ , I mean, than the other ones. You are pretty amazing all on your own, even without sex."

Darnell's ears burned, cheeks flushing, because none of this was remotely different from how Buddy talked to Darnell, except that it was him talking about Darnell's level of skill at oral sex, which Buddy now knew _from personal experience_.

(And Buddy thought Darnell was _good_ , some unhelpfully divergent part of Darnell's mind began running in a loop.)

Darnell dropped his head, because he could not handle looking Buddy in the eyes, especially now that he had personal experience from which he could evaluate _Buddy's_ skill at oral sex. "The blowjobs are sort of what I want to talk about."

"Like, criticism? Not really good at that, Darnell; after a certain point, I just sort of blanked out and enjoyed the ride."

(That small unhelpful part of Darnell's mind was now just whimpering 'oh god oh god oh god' on an infinite loop.)

"Not - what does this mean, Buddy? For us?"

"We're bros, Darnell."

"Bros don't do that!" Darnell turned on Buddy, and got to see the moment when Buddy's expression, easy-going, cheerful, faltered, ears drooping as he frowned, slightly, settling back against the far door.

"I was hoping you did not know that."

"Didn't _know_ that?"

Buddy shrugged, glancing at Darnell's feet. "We are both single right now, and I like you, and sex is fun if you do it right, and I just thought I would ask. It does not have to 'mean' anything except that you are excellent at it."

"It can't mean nothing, Buddy. I mean, maybe if we were two different people...but this isn't a thing that can just happen. If we're bros, then this is a mistake we made once."

Buddy didn't talk for a long time. Darnell tried, once or twice, to add something, but he couldn't find words that could express more of what he wanted to say than he had. As a result, he just watched Buddy, helplessly, as Buddy drooped, hands folded in his lap, ears flopped back against his head, stance loose from gravity, rather than relaxation.

"Buddy-" he tried, but the words stuck in his throat, and suddenly the weight of what he'd said hit him. It sounded like an ultimatum, like a breakup, like - he didn't know. It was something big and Darnell wished he could take it back.

"...What if I want to be bros, but I do not want this to be a mistake?"

"What does that mean, Buddy?"

"I-" Buddy looked up at Darnell, eyes a little wild - no, not wild, energetic - frantic. Like he'd come up with an idea and needed to get on it _immediately_. "I mean what if we stay bros and that - that sex is a thing that happens sometimes?"

Darnell groaned, because this was what he was trying to explain. "I can't be your bro and also be something to - to do when you don't have anyone better around."

"Why do you think I would want someone better?" 

And this was - Darnell took a breath, finding it shaky, his heartbeat uneven. Buddy was still looking at his feet; Darnell couldn't read his expression.

"I need a better answer, Buddy. I need to know what you _want_."

"I want...to be your bro, Darnell. I want to have sex sometimes. As often as you'd want. I want to go out sometimes, be able to kiss you - oh, you were asking about pointers, and that is definitely one! Break out the kisses every now and again when you're giving a dude a blowjob."

"Buddy?"

"I do not want you to be doing that with anyone else. I want to be...it."

"It?"

"Like," Buddy waved his hands vaguely. "That thing people say. 'When you find it'. I want to be 'it' for you."

"Bro...usually isn't the word you use for dudes like that," Darnell offered.

"I know that!" Buddy turned, and his expression was...frightened. Shaky. Uncertain. His eyes were shiny, a little moist, and Darnell wondered how long Buddy had been holding onto this. "But I do not understand why you would have to stop being my bro just because you were my boyfriend."

When Darnell breathed out, the breath came easier. Buddy'd been dancing around the word, and he wasn't entirely certain this is what Buddy had meant. And now that he knew?

His first instinct was to put it in the Maybe Pile. Something to think about a little later, when they weren't both emotionally wrought.

But the Maybe Pile was for ideas they didn't want to deal with right now, ideas they kicked down the road for future Darnell and Buddy to worry about. Buddy deserved better than an afterthought.

"What if I don't want to do that?"

"Oh." There was a flick of Buddy's ears before they perked back up. "Well, there are plenty more fish in the sea. Sure, I think you and I could be _awesome_ boyfriends, otherwise I would not have brought it up. Last night can be...one of my terrible ideas."

Not a mistake, Darnell noted. But something he'd thought would turn out better than it did.

"For the record, I would have really preferred being in the loop on the 'start dating Darnell' idea from the start," Darnell said.

"I am sorry about that, it just occurred to me around Valentines when you were sad and lonely and I thought 'what if it were _my_ job to make sure you feel loved and appreciated?' It _seemed_ like an awesome idea, but so did the catapult, so I decided to do the thing Muncie always says and think about it for a while."

"And you thought...the way to go about it was giving me a blowjob?"

"Ah." Buddy gave a helpless shrug. "The plan sort of got away from me. I _could_ have used your help on that. If I learned anything from English class, that is irony."

The fact that Buddy had spent _months_ considering the pros and cons of this and come down on the side that believed trading blowjobs during Weaselbrat's graduation party was the right decision was putting a lot of Darnell's potential objections in perspective.

As was the niggling voice that reminded Darnell he and Buddy had _never_ decided not to do something just because of the potential injury, risk of death, or expected property damage. It was one of the things that made them awesome.

"So...I heard mention of kissing in this 'bros who date each other instead of other people' plan?"

"Yeah?" Buddy's voice was uncertain, hopeful, and that made up Darnell's mind.

"Let's go for it."

"Go for…"

"Go out together, kiss, have sex, not do any of that with other people. You know, bro stuff."

Buddy's expression shifted so fast to a grin, wide, toothy, eyes wide and bright with _delight_ , which pretty much told Darnell he'd made the right choice. "I am going to kiss you Darnell, if you want me to."

"Yeah, I haven't heard much about your skills in _that_ arena, so I guess I'm going to need some hands-on-"

It turned out Buddy was pretty good at that, too.


End file.
